Category: Books Page 80 of 161

Saturday Miscellany—1/8/22

By

On January 8, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

(really quick—I could still use a recommendation or two for the 12 Books Challenge, if you’re in the mood to help a guy out)

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet Never Donate These Books to Little Free Libraries (or Anywhere Else)—Some of this seems like common sense. Probably those parts need to be emphasized.
bullet Public Domain Day 2022—a list of some of the works that hit Public Domain this year, it’s not just Winnie-the-Pooh.
bullet Noah Hawley Keeps Changing Lanes—a profile of Hawley and his new novel
bullet #R3COMM3ND3D2021 The After Show Party—A look back at #R3COMM3ND3D2021 (a truly impressive number of books got mentioned in these posts—if you’re looking for a 2022 TBR list, you could do worse than working your way through these.
bullet Humor in Books, and Other Places, Too! An Interview with Darran Handshaw—Lockhaven’s series continues—and includes a fire safety tip!
bullet These are probably the last of the 2021 Wrap Up posts (although I might not be the only one taking too long to do theirs), those that caught my eye:
bullet Raven’s Yearly Round Up 2021 and Top 10 Of The Year—plenty of good recommendations here
bullet Bookworm Blues lists their 25 Best Books of 2021
bullet Bookforager’s 2021 Progress Report
bullet The Bookwyrm’s Den brings us something from the other end of the spectrum comes To All the Books I DNF’d (2021 Edition), which is a much nicer way of dealing with this idea than I’d come up with.
bullet 2022 Reading Challenge for Overwhelmed Book Readers—for those who need something like this
bullet Why I’m ditching star ratings in 2022—I keep circling back to this idea myself
bullet 10 Reasons to Read Indie and Self-Published Books

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet And Your Enemies Closer by Rob Parker—the first (fairly disturbing) book in this Audible Original series was my introduction to Parker, and this follow-up is just as riveting as the predecessor. Former detective DI Foley kicks off a war between criminal factions. (I almost wrote my post about the book right here…oops. No one has time for that right now)
bullet Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire—a non-reading/blogging project this week sucked up more time than I expected, which is the only reason I didn’t start (and likely finish) the 7th Wayward Children book two days ago.
bullet Anthem by Noah Hawley—”An epic literary thriller set where America is right now, in which a band of unlikely heroes sets out on a quest to save one innocent life—and might end up saving us all.” Yeah, that’s pretty vague, but it’s as good as I can do right now.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to MaureenBaks who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!

WWW Wednesday, January 5, 2022

By

On January 5, 2022

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

It’s already Wednesday? Where has the year gone?? (I’m not proud of that, but I was struggling to come up with anything else). Let’s put that weak attempt at humor behind us and get on with the WWW Wednesday, okay

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading the SF/Urban Fantasy combo, Bloodlines by Peter Hartog, and am wrapping up Gone Missing by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney (Narrator) on audiobook.

BloodlinesBlank SpaceGone Missing

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished S.J. Rozan’s Family Business—what a great way to start the year—and The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer, Katherine Kellgren (Narrator) on audio.

Family BusinessBlank SpaceThe Case of the Left-Handed Lady

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire and my next audiobook will probably be The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton, Matt Godfrey (Narrator).

Where the Drowned Girls GoBlank SpaceThe Finders

How are you kicking off 2022?

2022 Plans and Challenges

By

On January 3, 2022

In Books, Calendar Items, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Thanks to Facebook’s On This Day, today I was reminded of my 2014 New Year’s Reading Resolutions. Boy Howdy, did I do a lousy job with those. Of the 12 specific resolutions, I still need to accomplish at least 5 (there’s room for interpretation on a couple of them)—I still want to accomplish 4 of them. Maybe this reminder will help?*

* Yeah, I’m not counting on that, either. But it’s nice to dream.

So, I’m reticent to get into calling my shots, as it were, too much anymore—there’s a project from 2020 still hanging over my head, too. And a few others, too, I’m sure—I just don’t want to go spelunking through the archives to find more personal failures (minor, to be sure, but technically failures).

So, here’s what I’m going to shoot for around here in the next 12 months.
bullet Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but I made some strides last year)—one of the Book Challenges this year should be a fun way to help.
bullet I’m going to finish my Classic Spenser series and maybe find another Classic to do a project read-through. We’ll see about that. (I added this one after scheduling this post, but you know what? I’ve been kicking myself for ages for dropping this…)
bullet Be pickier in the Book Tours I participate in—I’ve already started this (Damp Pebbles Blog Tours ceasing operations helped, too—no slight intended to the Tour Organizers I still enjoy working with, but Emma was better at getting me to take risks). I still like Tours, they expose me to things I wouldn’t normally read—and I’m going to keep doing them. But I’m going to be pickier about them.
bullet Similarly, I’m doing fewer Book Challenges. I like the ones I’ve picked out—but they’re concrete things, no more of these “Read as Many of X as You Can” challenges. They don’t move the needle one bit for me as far as picking books—I read as many as I’m going to anyway, just with a count. But Challenges with specific targets can be fun. I’ll talk about those in a minute.
bullet Get better at proofreading—apparently, there’s a need.
bullet Try to interview more authors (maybe others, too?), and get better at that, too.
bulletThere are a few other ideas, but they’re harder to explain than to just do. You’ll know them if you see them.

2022 Book Challenges

12 Books
Perhaps you’ve seen this on everyone’s timeline this last week or so—12 months to read 12 books recommended by 12 friends. This looked like a great way to read something out of my wheelhouse—and so far, it should be. Only 1 of the 9 recommended so far is something that I’d have really considered. I still need 3 more recommendations—so hit the comments, folks!
12 Books Challenge

2022 “Support Book Bloggers” Challenge
Support Book Bloggers Challenge
This just looks like fun, mostly things I should be doing anyway. Go check it out.

2022 While I was Reading
While I Was Reading
I’ve done this one for the last few years—and Ramona’s done a great job of stretching me. And will continue to do so—this year’s categories are more challenging than I’m used to (I have to figure out authors’ astrological signs?).

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge
I dig the way this one is organized—if nothing else, my TBR should go down by 12. 🙂

I’ll also undoubtedly do the 20 Books of Summer Challenge…that’s been pretty fun.

That’s everything I have planned, I can’t wait to see what unplanned things happen around here. Hope you’re around to join in the fun!


(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

December 2021 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By

On January 1, 2022

In Books, Calendar Items, Currently Reading, News/Misc.

Even if the month brought me a bad Jack Reacher (stupid Lee Child wanting to retire…how selfish), I think it was pretty good for reading around here: 33 Books finished, 8,149 pages (or the equivalent) with a rating of 3.5 Stars on average (a little lower than I’ve had lately, but still really good).

I don’t have any books unfinished–sure, that meant I read short works for the last day and a half of the month, but I wanted to start 2022 with a clean slate (something I almost never do, so I was pretty happy about that).

Writing-wise, I put out a variety of things, and a pretty good number of posts, but the things left unfinished stack is way too large…

All in all, color me pleased. Although, at this point, anything that brings an end to the up-and-down year that 2021 was is good to me. Anyway, here’s what happened here in December.
Books Read

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Fortune Favors the Dead Who Is Jesus?
3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
The Last Time She Died Dr. Rick Will See You Now Cold Reign
4 Stars 3 Stars 5 Stars
Mistletoe and Crime Better Off Dead We Had a Little Real Estate Problem
4 1/2 Stars 2 Stars 3 Stars
A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry Faith in the Time of Plague A Sheep Remembers
5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Grave Reservations A Private Investigation Risen
4 Stars 4 Stars 5 Stars
Messy The Nutcracker My Contrary Mary
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
The Sentence Is Death Things Unseen Why Did Jesus Have to Live a Perfect Life?
3.5 Stars 5 Stars 4 Stars
A Dream About Lightning Bugs Fortune and Glory Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 3.5 Stars
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas Stuff You Should Know Agent to the Stars
3.5 Stars 2 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Anonymous The Case of the Left-Handed Lady The Iggy Chronicles, Volume One
4 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Dogtology Zoth-Avarex's Escape Plan
3 Stars 3 Stars

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 1 2 Stars 1
4 Stars 7 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 5 1 Star 0
3 Stars 13
Average = 3.5

TBR Pile
Mt TBR December 21

Breakdowns
“Traditionally” Published: 21
Self-/Independent Published: 11

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 2 (1%)
Fantasy 1 (3%) 7 (20%)
General Fiction/ Literature 5 (16%) 24 (8%)
Horror 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Humor 2 (6%) 9 (3%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 11 (34%) 117 (38%)
Non-Fiction 4 (13%) 22 (7%)
Science Fiction 1 (3%) 20 (7%)
Steampunk 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Theology/ Christian Living 5 (16%) 38 (13%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (9%) 49 (16%)
Western 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wroteotherwriting
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (the 4th, the 11th, the 18th, and the 25th), I also wrote:

How was your month?

Saturday Miscellany—1/1/22

By

On January 1, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Happy New Year, readers!

I don’t have a lot to say this week—so let’s just get on with things, okay?

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet What’s the Best Book of the Past 125 Years? We Asked Readers to Decide.—From the NYT. I can’t argue with the results, I guess I could, but I won’t.
bullet The 36 Best (Old) Books We Read in 2021—Not your typical year-end post.
bullet Humor in Books, and Other Places, Too! An Interview with L.L. Stephens—another in Lockhaven’s series on humor.
bullet Building a fantasy world map using Adobe Illustrator—never read Jackson’s work, but this was fascinating
bullet Speaking of maps, this is impressive: Alex Verus Map Project—a valiant Alex Verus fan has created a google map of every location in the Verus novels.
bullet Alcoholic Drinks to Pair With Favorite Fantasy and Horror Books—I attempted a post like this a couple of years ago, this is the way to do it.
bullet The Simple Guide to Netgalley—A Handy Guide from Tales from Absurdia.
bullet Of the making of Year-End Posts There Is No End (well, it just seems that way—there probably will be an end in a couple of weeks). Here are a few more that I found interesting:
bullet The Best Reviewed Crime Novels of 2021—From CrimeReads
bullet The Fantasy Hive 2021 Year-End Awards
bullet FanFiAddict’s Justin’s Top 10 Reads of 2021
bullet Ben from Literature & Lofi’s Favorite Books From 2021
bullet Yearly Roundup & Favourite Books: 2021—from Spells & Spaceships
bullet Reader Voracious has released their 2022 Ultimate Book Blogger / Reader Spreadsheet Template—if you’re looking for a tracker, you should give it a shot
bullet 2022 “Support Book Bloggers” Challenge—this seems like a really neat idea
bullet What Book Series Did I Finish Reading in 2021?—quite the feat.
bullet Out of Order Reading Methods—clearly, this is the work of a monster. This is not the kind of thing that should be normalized! (just kidding, this is a fun post)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Beth Tabler who followed the blog this week.

WWW Wednesday, December 29, 2021

By

On December 29, 2021

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

Time for the final WWW Wednesday of 2021! It’s been quite a year, right?

 

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m finally reading Anonymous by Elizabeth Breck and am listening to Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi, Wil Wheaton (Narrator) on audiobook—it’s as fun as I remember when I read it a decade or so ago.

AnonymousBlank SpaceAgent to the Stars

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the very odd The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, translated by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux and Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant on audio.

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás CubasBlank SpaceStuff You Should Know

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Family Business by S.J. Rozan (been waiting for this one!) and my next audiobook should be another trip to Amish country in Gone Missing by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney (Narrator).

Family BusinessBlank SpaceGone Missing

How are you all wrapping up the year?

Down the TBR Hole Revisited (3 of 3)

By

On December 29, 2021

In Books, Down the TBR Hole, News/Misc.

Down the TBR Hole Revisited

Huh. When I looked at this list, I really thought I’d cut some fat (although this part would be harder than the rest since some of these aren’t published yet, so I haven’t heard anything about them from other readers). I still managed to cut a little bit, which puts my Want-to-Read list under 150–which means overall, I’ve cut 90+ from the list since I started this (either through deleting or reading). I call that a win.

The big question is, what will this list look like in 2024-5 when I try this again?

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.

The Rules are simple:

  1. Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
  2. Order on ascending date added.
  3. Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
  4. Read the synopses of the books.
  5. Decide: keep it or should it go?
  6. Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)

What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?

(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)

Vanishing Edge Vanishing Edge by Claire Kells
Blurb: FBI Agent-turned-Forest Service investigator is on the hunt for a killer in the Sequoia National Park.
My Thoughts: I vaguely remember reading about this on a Crime Reads post–sounded good (still does), and I’d probably enjoy it. But…I know I’m not going to get around to it.
Verdict:
Thumbs Down
The Cipher The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado
Blurb: A pair of FBI Agents (both with troubled pasts) are on the hunt for a serial killer.
My Thoughts: This one (and the next by Maldonado) were also featured in a Crime Reads post. The mini-blurb above sounds pretty generic, I know, but I remember something about the write-up that convinced me that Maldonado is somsone I want to try. So I put the first entries in her two series on the list, and am going to keep them there for at least a little longer.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
Blood's Echo Blood’s Echo by Isabella Maldonado
Blurb: A Phoenix PD Detective is on a crusade to take down a local crime family
My Thoughts: See above. I typically enjoy police detectives more than FBI Agents, so I’m leaning to trying this one first.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
The Accomplice The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz
Blurb: Owen and Luna have been best friends since college, the kind you always wonder why they didn’t end up together. When Owen’s wife is murdered, Luna starts putting pieces together with that murder and things that happened years ago. The book “examines the bonds of shared history, what it costs to break them, and what happens when you start wondering how well you know the one person who truly knows you.”
My Thoughts: It’s Lutz, so of course I’m going to read it, she’s still on my “auto” list–writing the above blurb is the first time I even looked at a synopsis I have the eARC on my Kindle now, actually, it’s probably going to be the first novel I start in 2022.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
How to Save a Superhero How to Save a Superhero by Ruth Freeman
Blurb: A ten-year old becomes convinced that a former superhero is a resident of the retirement community her mom works at. What’s more, she stumbles onto a conspiracy that puts him–and the whole human race–in danger.
My Thoughts: I thought I remembered where I saw this book recommended, but it’s not on the blogs I thought it was. Whoops. Regardless, it sounds like a cute story. It’s staying, I need some MG fluff.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
Fatal Storm Fatal Storm by Carrie Vaughn
Blurb: “Cormac and Amelia take a job at a quaint Victorian mountain lodge: keep an eye on the famous psychic there to judge whether the place is haunted. Simple, right? Three problems: the blizzard that snows everyone in for the weekend, the murdered body that shows up in the morning, and the fact that everyone is sure Cormac did it.”
My Thoughts: I just need to take some time and read all the Cormac and Amelia stories, and keep forgetting. This story’s presence on the list is a mnemonic device to help. The pair was a big part of what made the Kitty Norville series work–am glad to see them keep the world alive.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
Family Business Family Business by S.J. Rozan
Blurb: “The death of a powerful Chinatown crime boss thrusts private eye Lydia Chin and her partner Bill Smith into a world of double-dealing, subterfuge, murder, and—because this is New York City—real estate.”
My Thoughts: Like the Lutz book earlier, Lydia Chin/Bill Smith books are auto-reads for me. This one is waiting at the Library for me to pick up. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
Dance Among the Flames Dance Among the Flames by Tori Eldridge
Blurb: I’m not even going to try to do this one. Click the links.
My Thoughts: This looks like a heckuva departure from her Lily Wong series. I’m super-curious about it and am looking forward to its release.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
The Awkward Black Man The Awkward Black Man by Walter Mosley
Blurb: A collection of short stories.
My Thoughts: For years, I’ve felt like I’m missing out on not getting into Mosley–not a FOMO kind of thing, more of a “what is wrong with me that I don’t appreciate him.” After Allyson J Johnson mentioned it in a WWW Wednesday comment, I thought this might be a good way to jump start that effort (although a subsequent comment chilled me a bit).
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
How to Save a Superhero How to Save a Superhero by Ruth Freeman
My Thoughts: Okay, yeah, something about this clearly appealed to me because I put on the list twice. Whoops.
Verdict: At least this helps me trim the number, right?
Thumbs Down
Maxine Justice: Galactic Attorney Maxine Justice: Galactic Attorney by Daniel Schwabauer
Blurb: “Maxine Justice is an ambulance-chasing lawyer desperate for relevance and cash when aliens hire her to represent them before the United Nations.”
My Thoughts: I saw an advertisement for this on Publishers Weekly, and the premise seemed so ridiculous and tongue-in-cheek I had to give it a shot.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
One for All One for All by Lillie Lainoff
Blurb: A YA gender-bent Three Musketeers featuring someone who (today) would be diagnosed with POTS.
My Thoughts: My daughter’s recently been diagnosed with POTS, so it’s been on my mind. When I saw this mentioned on my Twitter feed, I had to give it a shot. If for no other reason than to make sure my daughter gives it a read.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
The Liar’s Knot The Liar’s Knot by M.A. Carrick
My Thoughts: I was really impressed with the first in this trilogy last year. I’ll likely be as impressed with this one–I will admit that I’m intimidated by the prospect of picking it up. Can I remember enough of what came before?
Verdict:
Thumbs Up

Books Removed in this Post: 2 / 13
Total Books Removed: 7 / 33

Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?

(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)

Saturday Miscellany—12/25/21

By

On December 25, 2021

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I cannot believe anyone’s actually reading this today, but stranger things have happened, I guess.

Eh, maybe you need a break from the festivities, here’s a little to occupy your mind. It’s not much, I think everyone was lightening up on content this week.

Odds n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet Libraries enlist states in fight over ebook rules
bullet The Most Popular Books and Audiobooks on NetGalley in 2021
bullet The most popular US library books of 2021
bullet 2022 Ultimate Book Blogger / Reader Spreadsheet Template—2022 will be my third year using this template from Reader Voracious—I still don’t use all the features, but those that I do are more than worth it. Even if I wasn’t blogging, I think I’d prefer this to what I came up with on my own.
bullet It was the last week for The #R3COMM3ND3D2021 series over at Damp Pebbles. The posts over the last week were by:
bullet Podcast Audiobookish
bullet BookBlogger Karen Cole
bullet BookBlogger Rae
bullet Author Joy Kluver
bullet BookBlogger Emma—the proprieter of Damppebbles herself chimes in to wrap up the series
bullet A few more installments of this year’s Best Of Lists…
bullet 12 Authors Share the Best Books They Read in 2021—from the We Are Bookish blog
bullet from FanFiAddict: Tom’s Top 10 Reads of 2021
bullet Witty and Sarcastic Book Club declares the year a win: Operation 2021: Success! (or Favorite Books from this Year)
bullet Why I’m not seeing a numbered reading goal for 2022…
bullet Blogging VS. Social Media: why having a book blog still matters—I’ve seen a little of this conversation online, but this is a pretty full response to the idea that book blogs are obsolete.
bullet Why Book Blogs are Relevant & Valuable Marketing Tools—okay, the above was a full response, this is…um…fuller I guess.
bullet The Die Hard Book Tag—a holiday-season Book Tag I can get behind.

WWW Wednesday, December 22, 2021

By

On December 22, 2021

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

I’m feeling very distracted this week–I’m having a lot of trouble focusing on anything for more than 15 minutes at a time, thankfully I’m reading a couple of books that are built for short-term-focus (am pretty sure that was the order, it’s entirely possible that they induced it). But the end of the year is nigh, I can take the foot off the gas a little bit, right?

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m finishing off a reading challenge by reading A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds and The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, translated by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux. I’m listening to My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows and narrated by Fiona Hardingham on audiobook, partially inspired by my recent Down theTBR Post.

A Dream About Lightning BugsBlank SpaceThe Posthumous Memoirs of Brás CubasBlank SpaceMy Contrary Mary

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker (in an effort to inject a little holiday cheer) and Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Hartford, Nicholas Guy Smith (Narrator) on audio.

The NutcrackerBlank SpaceMessy

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Anonymous by Elizabeth Breck (after spending over a month on my “On Deck” list–a testament to shoddy planning) and my next audiobook should be The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz, Rory Kinnear (Narrator).

AnonymousBlank SpaceThe Sentence Is Death

How are you spending the week?

Down the TBR Hole Revisited (2 of 3)

By

On December 22, 2021

In Books, Down the TBR Hole, News/Misc.

Down the TBR Hole Revisited

By only cutting one out of ten last week—by dint of reading it—I wondered if this revisiting was really worth the trouble. This week’s results were more encouraging.

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.

The Rules are simple:

  1. Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
  2. Order on ascending date added.
  3. Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
  4. Read the synopses of the books.
  5. Decide: keep it or should it go?
  6. Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)

What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?

(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)

Miss Kopp Investigates Miss Kopp Investigates by Amy Stewart
My Thoughts: My enthusiasm for this series has waned, as evidenced by the fact that I’m not two behind. I’m not sure why I put this on the list—maybe just to nudge my memory that these books exist? I will admit, though, that this sounds more interesting than the sixth book. I guess that’s enough to justify keeping it on the list.
Verdict: A tepid
Thumbs Up
The Last Dragonslayer The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
My Thoughts: I really do want to like Fforde, so a YA Fforde book about an employment agency for wizards? Sounds interesting. The agency being run by a 15-year-old who starts receiving visions about protecting the last dragon? Now you’ve really got me intrigued. Throw in a cover featuring a dragon and a VW bug and you make it hard not to judge a book by its cover.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
The Forgotten Girl The Forgotten Girl by Rio Youers
Blurb: A 26-year-old street performer is beaten up by thugs looking for his girlfriend. A girlfriend he doesn’t remember. Apparently, she has the “ability to selectively erase a person’s memories—an ability she has used to delete herself from Harvey’s mind. But emotion runs deeper than memory, and Harvey realizes he still feels something for Sally. And so—with the spider threatening—he goes looking for a girl he loves but can’t remember,” and danger ensues.
My Thoughts: I wish I remembered why I put this on the list in the first place, maybe it’d convince me to keep it there.
Verdict:
Thumbs Down
E.B. White on Dogs E.B. White on Dogs by E.B. White
Blurb: A compilation of “the best and funniest of his essays, poems, letters, and sketches depicting over a dozen of White’s various canine companions” put together by White’s granddaughter.
My Thoughts: Do you have to ask?
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
Monkey Around Monkey Around by Jadie Jang
Blurb: “Barista, activist, and were-monkey Maya McQueen was well on her way to figuring herself out. Well, part of the way. 25% of the way. If you squint…”
My Thoughts: When the blurb for an Urban Fantasy starts like this, I stop paying attention, and click the “Want to Read” button. Also, Paul’s Picks had good things to say.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
The Burn The Burn by Kathleen Kent
My Thoughts: The Dime was so good, I added the rest of the trilogy without looking at what they were about. I really don’t care, just need to fit them into the queue.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
The Pledge The Pledge by Kathleen Kent
My Thoughts: See above.
Verdict:
Thumbs Up
Surviving the Extremes Surviving the Extremes: What Happens to the Body and Mind at the Limits of Human Endurance by Kenneth Kamler
Blurb: “A true-life scientific thriller no reader will forget, Surviving the Extremes takes us to the farthest reaches of the earth as well as into the uncharted territory within the human body, spirit, and brain…Divided into six sections—jungle, high seas, desert, underwater, high altitude, and outer space—this book uses firsthand testimony and documented accounts to investigate the science of what a body goes through and explains why people survive—and why they sometimes don’t.”
My Thoughts: My daughter (or was it her boyfriend) talked about needing to read this for a class—or maybe it was recommended by a professor—and thought it might be fun to read to talk about with them. But then the class didn’t happen or something…I really don’t remember. But they didn’t end up reading it, and I’m not super interested in it.
Verdict:
Thumbs Down
The Exodus Betrayal The Exodus Betrayal by N.C. Scrimgeour
My Thoughts: It’s a cyberpunk-y SF thriller that I’m just not in the mood for. This time, it’s despite the nice things Paul’s Picks had to say. It’s probably pretty good, but I just know I’m not going to get around to it.
Verdict:
Thumbs Down
The Library The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree
Blurb: “Perfect for book lovers, this is a fascinating exploration of the history of libraries and the people who built them, from the ancient world to the digital age.”
My Thoughts: A history of libraries? That sounds pretty good. But it also sounds like a lot of work. When I read about this at Witty and Sarcastic Book Club, the idea intrigued me. But lately, the part where Jodi wrote, “There was just no excitement shown in the pages. I felt like the authors weren’t really all that invested in what they were writing. And that sort of rubbed off on me a little bit,” speaks loudly to me.
Verdict:
Thumbs Down

Books Removed in this Post: 4 / 10
Total Books Removed: 5 / 33

Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?

(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)

Page 80 of 161

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén